ArchiveOctober 7, 2001

Last week we had a special celebration in O’Connell’s Restaurant in Dublin for the launch of two new cookbooks – my latest tome entitled the Darina Allen Ballymaloe Cookery Course and the Ballymaloe Bread Book written by my husband Tim. For Michael Gill of Gill & Macmillan who published the books in Ireland, it was the first time a husband and wife had launched their work on the same day. In fact it was very much a family affair. My mother-in-law Myrtle Allen who started it all was there to celebrate with us. My brother Tom O’Connell and his wife Annette manage O’Connell’s Restaurant where we hosted the event. Another brother Rory O’Connell, chef at Ballymaloe House cooked the lunch.

For a number of years now Tim has become more and more passionate about bread. Here at the cookery school he has fired up a whole generation of young chefs and cooks with his infectious enthusiasm. “My awareness of bread-making goes right back to when I was a tiny child…. I remember being able to just peer over the top of the work counter in the kitchen…. I could see the tea-towels draped mysteriously over the dome of the bread tin. No mystery now – of course, this was the brown yeast bread rising by the warmth of the Aga.” Nonetheless Tim came to bread-making fairly late in life. He always says that his interest in bread-making was kindled almost by accident. One day (circa 1974) when I had gone off on a skite, he found himself without a car and with no bread in the bin, (such neglect!). Instead of nipping down to the village to buy a sliced pan, he decided to attempt to make a loaf himself. He knew almost instinctively how to make bread, having watched his mother mixing the dough on a daily basis as a child. He had often been asked to keep an eye on the bread as it rose in the tins and to alert somebody when it was ready for baking. That was second nature but he didn’t know the exact quantities, so he rang his Mum. Armed with the recipe, he made his first loaf of Ballymaloe Brown Yeast bread, popped it into the Aga and waited with bated breath – the loaf was crusty and delicious, he was hooked.

He eagerly progressed from one bread to another, soda breads, yeast breads, sour dough breads, flat breads, ethnic breads. … He hugely enjoyed passing on his knowledge and passion for bread-making to friends, and of course to the students here at the school. He delights in their pleasure as they take their first loaf of bread out of the oven. “The look on their faces and the joy and amazement that lights up their eyes”, gives him huge satisfaction. Past pupils have been sending their good wishes and thanking him for kindling their interest in bread-making ‘More often than not I find myself at home, in the middle of the country with my babies, my Aga, flour and baking soda for company. I bake bread every day thanks to your instruction, encouragement and inspiration’ writes one of our girls who has since married and has three small daughters.

He’s been experimenting with a wide variety of breads and is determined to take the mystery out of bread-making and to encourage as many busy people as possible to have a go and to realize that a loaf of soda bread or a few scones can literally be made in minutes. Even yeast breads and sourdough breads which take longer to make – “take time but not your time”. While the bread is rising one can simply get on with other things. Tim’s Ballymaloe Bread Book has more than 100 delicious recipes for all kinds of breads including pizza, focaccia and some exotic ethnic breads. I just think it’s a terrific book, and that’s not just because I’m biased or because he dedicated it to me!